To say that my relationship with metal has been complicated is a bit of an understatement. Even though heavy bands like Zao led me to care about music in the first place, I abandoned metal and hardcore in college. It wasn’t until Deafheaven released Sunbather that I started to dip my toes back in, before diving headlong into bands like Alcest, Isis, Lantlos, and Baroness.
What started as a love of music that subverts metal archetypes grew into a more sincere appreciation for the genre as a whole. Even still, I’ve found it difficult to swallow most of the more mainstream acts.
There is one massive exception to this though, and that is Mastodon, who has consistently proven themselves to be one of the most important metal bands of the last two decades. Their second album, Leviathan, was practically a coup, storming the gates of heavy metal and erecting their own flag over the fortress. It’s a massive tour-de-force, combining the fury of old school thrash with the cerebral acrobatics of prog metal and an almost cinematic sense of composition—all while singing about Moby Dick.